The next newsletter is scheduled to appear on 30th
December. Please try to get copy to us no later than
15th December. All contributions welcome!

The county still has no permanent tournament organiser, but
competitions will be organised as follows. Jenny Jacobsberg
will run the County Individual and County Pairs events, Chris
Larlham the Club Challenge, Ann Curtin the Garden Cities event,
and Chris Jagger the County Knock-Out. Due to general lack of
support, the Multi Teams and Jubilee Pairs will not be held
this year. We hope to reinstate these competitions at some
future date, possibly with new formats.

We hear on the grapevine that two people have been caught
cheating at a Welsh Congress. Apparently they were substituting
pre-sorted boards for use in their Swiss Teams matches!

In this issue John Young discusses the
rationale behind preempting. Continuing their series of
articles on Clubs in the County, Ann Curtin and John Turner
describe the Saffron Walden Club. Jonathan Mestel describes
some hands where sixes played an important r^ole, while
following on from his articles on 3NT and 4NT openers,
Chris Jagger suggests a use for an opening bid of 5NT! We
give the solutions to the overbidders challenge from last
issue and there is the usual round-up of news and
events.

by Jonathan Mestel

In two hands from the Premier League second division a lowly
6 proved quite crucial.

N/S Vul

QJ1052 J63 K6 985

Dealer
W

K4 1052 QJ75 K763

N

W

E

S

8 K9874 8432 J104

A9763 AQ A109 AQ2

How would you play 5 by South on
the lead of the 5 to the 3, 7 and Q?

Declarer entered dummy with K and
ran Q. Paul Barden (W) won this and
continued hearts. Declarer drew trumps and eliminated the red
suits to leave North on lead with

5 - - 985

- - Q K76

N

W

E

S

- 9 - J104

6 - - AQ2

Declarer now led the 9 and finessed
when I covered. Paul exited with the 7
to the 8, J
and A. Declarer cashed his trump, but
Paul won trick 13 with the 6.

I didn't notice at the time, but someone who had seen the
hand-records could have led the 5 in
the diagram instead of the 9...

A better line for 11 tricks is to cash A at trick 2. Then after eliminating the red suits declarer
exits with a trump and the endplay is 100%. Unfortunately, the
contract was actually 4 not 5, so that was only +1IMP.

Not long after, another 6 was significant:

Love all

9854 A97 J4 KQ92

Dealer
E

76 6 AQ983 J7654

N

W

E

S

AKQJ10 Q108 K1076 3

32 KJ5432 52 A106

E

S

W

N

1

3

all

pass

The 7 was led to the 10 and East switched to a club giving 10 tricks
as the heart length is marked. Instead, continuing spades would
have led to a trump promotion and one down. It seems to me that
the club switch requires partner to hold something like a
2-0-5-6 shape with two aces, when he'd surely have acted over
3, but perhaps the stiff 6 was a long shot also. After the hand, I
promised partner that in future I'd hold stronger suits for my
3-level jump overcalls (though 5 is
cold). He replied "You mean something like KJ6432?"

by John Turner & Ann Curtin

The Saffron Walden Bridge Club meets every Wednesday evening
at the Conservative Club. We have visited Saffron Walden
several times to play matches, but always in winter, so we were
very much struck on this occasion with the beauty of the town
itself when we played at the club mid-August. We parked in the
market square which (unlike Cambridge) is mercifully free of
ugly stalls with canvas awnings and one has a clear view of the
lovely facades of all the buildings facing the square. The
Conservative Club is a few steps up a road leading from the
square. The Conservative Club occupies a splendid building in
its own right. The Bridge Club operates from a large and
comfortable room on the first floor. The ground floor is like a
huge pub, with a three-sided bar.

This present location is the Bridge Club's second home. The
club was started in the late seventies by Jack DeLee, who is
its present chairman. Fortunately, as we arrived, Jack was at
the bar, having a pre-game drink, and told us about the club's
history. Jack himself learned to play bridge during the war
when he spent time in an army hospital. After the war he didn't
play at all for a long time. Jack became the proprietor of the
King's Head pub in Saffron Walden. Wednesday evening was his
night off and he had a firm arrangement with his wife that he
stayed home on his night off. In the mid 1970s he resumed
playing rubber bridge with three friends in the pub on a
Wednesday evening. One table of rubber bridge developed into a
club evening with several tables and in 1979 Peter Burrows
joined the club and organised duplicate bridge. Fiske Warren
joined the club a year later, became very much involved in its
organisation and it has continued to flourish.

In 1992 Jack gave up running the pub. The club could not be
sure that the new pub owner would have a similar interest in
bridge and it therefore moved, to its present premises. There
is no club subscription - the club is funded by table money of
1.00 per player. All members belong to the EBU.

The two most famous members of the club are Fiske Warren and
Chris Larlham. Fiske has been much involved in the running of
the club, especially in its early days. He started teaching
evening bridge classes (at Saffron Walden County School) in
1983, and continued for ten years. Having run the local market
dry he no longer gives the classes, but gives lessons when
asked, and recently has been coaching the enemy (Balsham). The
classes used to generate a fair number of recruits to the
Bridge Club.

Fiske is a fine player and has reached final stages in both
Crockfords and the Gold Cup. He plays regularly for the County
A team and regularly represents the County at the Tollemache.
He has contributed to the County's qualifying for the final for
several years recently, but actually winning the Tolle for
Cambs and Hunts is yet to be achieved. Fiske's current role in
the club is that of `Honorary Expert'.

Everyone in the county will know Chris Larlham, the County
Captain, who selects the teams for the Eastern Counties League,
and the organiser of the South Cambs League. Chris's position
in the club is that of Club Captain and Tournament Director.
Chris has held this post for some years and the club is
extraordinarily fortunate to have someone with his cool
efficiency and friendly charm to run its sessions.

A quite interesting ending came up on one hand against David
Nicholson and Chris Larlham. The full deal (rotated for
convenience) was:

E/W vul

AK63 Jx J8x J7xx

Dealer
E

xx Kxxx Jxxx Axx

N

W

E

S

xx Axxx AKQx Q9x

QJ1074 Q10x 109 K108

John(E)

Chris

Ann

David

1

P

1

X

2

2

3

P

4

4

P

P

X

P

P

P

Over a very thin double from David, I raised to 2 and Chris came in with 2 with, it seemed, a lot in reserve. Ann pressed on to 3 with her quite decent hand and side-fit in
diamonds. David naturally passed and I went on to 4, over which Chris bid 4, which I doubled.

Ann led a small to my Ace and I
then played AKQ, Chris ruffing high.
He then followed with AK, clearing the
trumps, and exited slightly deceptively with J to the Q. Ann took this and
wrongly switched a small club, which as it happens ruined my
holding in that suit, leading to just two off (+300 was still
very good for us as 4 has no chance).
Suppose, however, Ann plays back a third heart: now declarer
would have ruffed in dummy with the 3
and would have had to attack clubs himself. Assuming that he
has preserved the 6 as a further entry
to dummy (which requires two unblocking plays), what should he
do? Chris suggested that he would have run the J, which I would have covered with the Queen, King,
Ace, endplaying Ann. But she of course can foil this by not
playing her Ace. Declarer must then re-enter dummy with the
6 and play clubs again, taking a view
about the position of the A/9. (In
fact, if you consider the bidding and play so far the A must be with Ann.) However, when I later
checked the hand with Chris by e-mail he admitted that he had
probably forgotten to preserve the 6
as an entry!

We were doing quite well until we met Jane & Kit
Orde-Powlett in the last round, getting two near-bottoms. The
first of these was:

E/W Vul

KJxx xxx 9xx xxx

Dealer
E

xx AK AKQJ10xx xx

N

W

E

S

x QJxxx xxx AQ10x

AQ109xx xxx - KJxx

Jane(E)

John

Kit

Ann

2*

2

5

5

P

P

X

all pass

Jane opened a Lucas 2, showing a
weak hand with just 5 hearts plus at least a four-card minor. I
had an easy 2 over this, and Kit
didn't have much of a problem either - he bid 5! That would certainly have made, probably with an
overtrick, but Ann bid on to 5,
encouraged by the vulnerability, and Kit quite reasonably
decided to double this rather than gamble 6. With the clubs lying nicely for me I easily got out
for two off, losing three hearts and a club, for -300. This
turned out to be a very bad score, one declarer going three off
in 5 but not doubled, another (Chris
Larlham) managing to get out for just one off in 5 doubled. Like me, he'd had a Lucas 2 opened against him and I was intrigued to find
out how exactly he'd managed the tenth trick. He said the
defence started with diamonds, ruffed, and he crossed to
dummy's J and immediately played a
club - which is quite risky, with one trump still out - on
which East played the Ace and continued with a second diamond.
Then Chris crossed to the K, finessed
the J, cashed the King, ruffed the
last club, then - the key play - ruffed the third diamond. Then
he exited with a heart and West was well and truly fixed. Well
played!

* * * * *

The atmosphere at the Saffron Walden Club is extremely
pleasant. The bridge is taken seriously - Chris produces by
e-mail for those interested an EHA (even-handed analysis) after
each session. He analyses the hands, obviously from his point
of view, but also indicates how different pairs have performed
on various hands. In addition, there is a tremendous feeling of
warmth. The members know each other well and an evening playing
bridge at the club is also an occasion for meeting and chatting
to friends. Visitors and new members are most welcome, as was
confirmed by the most enjoyable evening that John and I spent
there.

Quotes from the past

I have seen it reported that Sir Winston Churchill was a
bridge player of no great standing. Allegedly, his partner once
remonstrated with him, after having based a losing defence on
one of Churchill's discards.

"The cards I discard are by definition of no importance,"
came the grand reply.

"It is the cards I choose to keep that you should
consider."

George Kaufman (the thirties playwright), having watched his
partner butcher a bridge hand, enquired exasperatedly

"Just how long have you been playing this game?"

He then added:

"Don't tell me since this afternoon. I want to know what
time this afternoon".

by Chris Jagger

As promised last month, I shall continue with my series of
"Conventions you don't need to know". The 5NT opener is not a
common beast, and you could be forgiven for thinking there is
no such thing. Referring to various books about Acol I could
find no reference whatsoever!

Fortunately, a couple of years ago I agreed to play with
Paul Lamford in an event, and a detailed system discussion
ensued. He told me that there was an obvious meaning to this
opener - it asks partner to pick a minor, or bid a grand with a
key minor suit card. "It's quite common," he assured me, "it's
already come up twice".

As there is nothing terribly obvious apart from this, and it
is easy to remember and use, it seems sensible enough. For
example, with - A AQJ10xx AKQJxx you would open 5NT. If partner
has the king of diamonds he would realise that that was a
useful card and bid the grand. Similarly - - KQJ10xxx AKQJxx
would open 5NT. It's no use opening 4NT on these hands - if
partner showed two aces you wouldn't know which he had!

The system can also be abused a little. With - - KQJxxxxxxx
AKQ you would also open 5NT. It is true that you haven't
exactly got the minors, but you could safely correct to
diamonds, and partner will get the message.

This is all very well, but what if you have a two suiter
without both minors, and only one loser? I'm afraid you just
have to rely on traditional methods, though I can give you some
extra help. It is quite possible to play the 5NT opener as
showing either the minors or the majors, with one loser.
Partner assumes you have the minors, but only bids at the seven
level if he has the necessary cards for both a minor and a
major suit grand to make. If he just has the minor cards, he
bids 6 or 6,
telling partner to pass with a major, and bid on with a minor.
And the great thing about this modification to the system is
that we have doubled the frequency of the convention!

Now just sit back and await the arrival of this convention -
though I can't guarantee that men won't arrive from outer space
first!

Addendum by JM: A great idea! I propose the following
alternative: an opening 5NT should show any two suits,
but missing precisely one of the four top cards. Responses
are:

7: I have an A/K in three suits

6: I have an A/K in each minor

6: I have an A/K in , but not in ,

6: I do not have A/K of .

Over 6 or 6 opener can bid a suit he holds but in which he lacks an
A/K. I think this enables us to cope with all eventualities,
but only provided we are prepared to play in either of
our suits. Cambs & Hunts newsletter is clearly the place
for up-to-date bidding theory debates!

by John Young

To cover all aspects of preempting would take a large book,
so we intend to show some of the critical factors, under the
headings - Why, When, Level and Defence.

WHY? The theory is that left to their own devices,
players should reach a reasonable contract, though evidence
from the travellers sometimes contradicts this. By preempting,
whether by opening or by overcalling you have given your side
an advantage, because your partner is in a good position to
judge who should have the contract, whilst the opponents may
well be guessing.

Sometimes of course it backfires, when opponents make
inspired bids which they would not have made without the
preempt, however you hope to gain in the long run.

Of course, the main reason to preempt the baddies is because
it's fun, making interesting scores and stories.

WHEN? Like most things timings and judgment areas are
difficult elements, but here are a few guidelines. Remember
that the idea is to cause problems for the opponents, not
ourselves.

Green at 1st position is the safest area, with Red at 2nd
the most dangerous - for you are more likely to go for an
expensive penalty against little for the opponents, whilst you
are equally more likely to preempt your partner rather than the
opponents.

With this in mind, Q1098x x J10xx xxx is okay as a Green 1st
position weak two, whilst Kxxxxxx Qx Kx Qx would be a horrible
second in hand preempt at Red. Suit quality rather than point
count is the key factor. KQJ9xxx x xxxx x would be everybody's
Red 2nd in hand three level opener.

Also, you are announcing to partner that you only want to
play in that suit, which is why KJx Qxxxxx x Qxx is far from
ideal as a weak two, since you may want to play in spades,
clubs, no trumps, or, if partner has some support, your own
suit!

Admittedly some people do agree a completely random style of
preempts, but you have got to accept that you may kill off your
partner as well as your opponents!

LEVEL? Once you have decided to preempt you also have
to judge the level. Basically you want the hardest level for
the opponents to judge, without risking a vast penalty
yourself. Choose the highest level you can justify to
teammates, and then shut up for the rest of the auction.

DEFENCE? There is the `live' position, and the
`protective' position. When opponents have opened 3 straight in front of you, you are in the live
position, and want a decentish opening bid to come in, perhaps
14+ points, though be freer to come in with shortage (add a
couple for a singleton in their suit, subtract a point for
three card holding). Avoid coming in with a hand suitable for a
weak no trump.

The protected position is when they have opened on your left
followed by two passes. This is much more tempting as you are
less likely to be doubled (doubles by preempter's partner
should ALWAYS be for penalties since that person knows pretty
accurately what his partner has, and the biggest point of
preempting is to take penalties), and partner no longer has a
chance to bid.

Some people still do play penalty doubles of preempts, but
the fact that the only thing that the top players can agree on
is the use of takeout doubles should be sufficient evidence
that this really is the best way to defend against preempts.
(Some people play penalty doubles because they don't want
opponents to `get away with it' - but this is in fact exactly
what they do if you play penalty doubles. For, though sometimes
you can use the double, far more often you are stuck without
any sensible option.)

Whatever you think of preempts, one of the important things
to know is what to expect of partner. And that can only come by
partnership discussion. So next time you are thinking of
preempting, don't count your points. Look at your suit quality,
the number of trumps, and what you are aiming to achieve.

An Introduction to the County
Competitions

The aim of this short piece is to give a quick introduction
to the competitions that the County runs. Further details about
these or anything else, including possibilities of sorting out
partners/teammates, can be obtained from Chris Jagger or
anybody else on the committee.

County Teams Knock-Out: Four players make up a team,
to play a friendly match in the home against another team. If
you get knocked out straight away, you get another bite of the
cherry by playing in the Plate competition. This competition
ought to attract EVERYBODY. My tip is that if you draw a
stronger team, ply them with a little alcohol and you'll be
amazed how easy it is to beat them!

Newmarket Open Swiss Teams: Teams of four open to
people from outside the County too. This has always been a very
popular event, with the exciting `Swiss' format being used.

County Individual/Pairs: These two events have heats
organised by the clubs, and give the leading pairs/players from
each club the chance to do battle against those from other
clubs.

Garden Cities: For CLUB teams of eight. If your club
does not enter already then it should! As many teams as you
like can enter, to compete for the chance to represent the
County at the regional final in Peterborough.

Swiss Teams Club Challenge: A club teams of eight
combined with open teams of four competition. Club teams must
contain at least two players ranked below 1 Star Master.
EBU/County membership is not necessary for this competition,
and this is intended to be a good opportunity for those who
have not played in a County competition before. Though really
there is nothing to fear from any of them!

Eastern Counties League: Your chance to represent the
County against other counties. It is intended that everybody
should be given the opportunity to play in the C team, so
please nominate yourself or other members of your club if you'd
like a go. Chris Larlham is the County captain.

It would be nice to see higher attendance at all the County
competitions. Often in the past, the less experienced don't
turn up for fear of the more experienced player, whilst the
more experienced players are off competing in Timbuctoo for the
national prize! In addition, we have an overworked and
underrepresented County committee. Why not get involved?!

In the County Knock-out final, JAGGER bt HARRISON but
went on to a dismal performance in the Pachabo. Similarly there
were no star performances from the Corwen, Jagger/Young
finishing highest on about 8th. In the Garden Cities,
the Cambridge Club won the Peterborough heat convincingly, but
only managed fifth in the national final.

The Cambridge Club got to the last 8 of the NICKO
before losing to a relatively weak team from Surrey.

Gough, Larlham, Nicholson and Warren won the Hereford
One-day Swiss Teams. Jagger and Jagger teamed up with
Williams and Baker to come 2nd in the B Final at the
Brighton Teams, whilst Brodie was in the team that came 2nd
in the Brighton Bowl (consolation teams).

Young came 2nd with Williams in the Scarborough Swiss
Pairs, whilst Birdsall, Faber and Zakrzewski came 2nd in
the teams B final.

Woodruff and Shaw won the Consolation B final at the
Bournemouth Spring Congress. Howard, Campbell, Stelmashenko
and Milman came second in the Kent Swiss Teams.

Mestel's and Woodruff's teams both got to the last 32 of the
Gold Cup before being knocked out. Jagger's team is into
the last 16 of the Hubert Phillips Bowl.

Congratulations to Giles Woodruff on his recent promotion to
Premier Life Master.

Around the Clubs

The Thursday Club: Since June the 24th, the Thursday
Club has been meeting at Butler House, Trinity College instead
of our usual room at Adrian House. We are not sure how long it
will be before we can return to Adrian House, but due to the
shortage of space in our present venue we very much regret that
we are unable to accept visiting pairs. South Cambs. League
home matches will also be played at alternative venues.

The winner of the President's Shield this year was Susan
Hilken. The Fry Trophies, a teams event, was won by Joanne
Caldwell, Kevin Smith, Susan Hilken and Anne Beytell. Jack
Townsend and Ken Jackson won the Swan Shield. Our club
championship, the St. John Championship was won by Ken and
Sheila Barker and the plate competition, the Mackenzie Trophy
was won by Jack Townsend and Arthur Fried. Sally Dempster and
Ken Barker won the Unusual Partnership Pairs and the winners of
the two-session Orchard Pairs were Shirley Rainbow and Julie
Robinson.

Solution to the Overbidder's
Challenge

Here are the solutions to the four problems from last issue
to do with low point-count slams:

1. The 7 redoubled hand comes from
the James Bond novel "Moonraker." Sadly, the hand was omitted
from the film version.

2. The minimum number of points needed to make 7NT is
eleven. For example, give dummy AQJ to 12 spades, and the ace
of hearts, and the person on lead the rest of the major suit
cards. Declarer has - - 765432 8765432, which is a poor hand
for no trumps.

3. The only distribution of the E-W cards for which you can
make 6 (though only due to the inept
club lead - surely a heart stands out?!) is as follows:

Game All

10954 2 AQ54 A1032

876 876 KJ 98765

N

W

E

S

QJ KQJ10 9876 KQJ

AK32 A9543 1032 4

Win the lead, ruff a club, finesse a diamond, ruff another
club and draw two rounds of trumps. A diamond to the ace now
allows the last trump to be drawn and the 10 to be cashed. East is now subjected to an elementary
trump squeeze. He can only keep four cards. If he comes down to
KQJ and 9
then the 10 is unblocked, before
ruffing back to hand to cash the fourth diamond. On the other
hand, if he keeps two diamonds and two hearts, declarer crosses
to the A, and ruffs the heart out,
still having the 10 as an entry to
dummy's good heart.

4. By relying on awful defence 7NT can be made with a
Yarborough in both hands:

Game All

9753 98765432 9 -

AKQJ108642 10 - AKQ

N

W

E

S

- AKQJ AKQJ108 J109

- - 765432 8765432

West leads the 8 won with the
nine, East discarding the A. After
another three spades have been cashed, East has parted with his
hearts. North now cashes the 9, West
carelessly parting with 10, and now
the heart suit can be run.

by Jonathan Mestel

Apologies for inflicting another article on you, but I have
to fill the space somehow.

At IMPs, vulnerable against not, you hold A6x Axxx Kxx Axx
and RHO opens 3. What do you do?

If you pass, so does LHO and partner bids 3. If on the other hand you double, partner bids 5. In either case, what is your next
bid?

In a Gold Cup match I somewhat conservatively first passed
and then bid 3NT. The full hand was something like

N/S Vul

- K109x AQJxxxx xx

Dealer
E

KQJ107x Qxx xxx x

N

W

E

S

98xx Jx - KQJ10xxx

A6x Axxx Kxx Axx

East

South

West

North

3

P

P

3

P

3NT

all

pass

Not a great success, as 6 is rigid.
However, I ducked the K lead and won
the spade continuation throwing a heart and a club from dummy.
I then ran all the minor cards to reach the following
ending:

- K109 x -

J Qxx - -

N

W

E

S

9 Jx - K

6 Ax - x

When the last diamond was led, E/W are caught in a double
guard squeeze. In fact Heather Dhondy as East threw a spade
establishing my 6 as a threat against
West, I threw a club and it was all over. A slightly better
defence is for her to throw a heart and her partner to throw a
spade, when I have to guess whether she has in fact been
squeezed in clubs and hearts, or whether to finesse for the
Q.

There was nothing clever about this, but it did afford me a
certain Pyrrhic satisfaction. At the other table, Jeremy Dhondy
doubled 3 and raised 5 to six, although presumably partner would have bid the
same with one more black card. His 6
scored more than my 6! We lost the
match by 10 IMPs, and this was one of my (many) contributions
to the result.